This bland night will still be seared into the minds of the England players and their manager. Montenegro, after all, is a country with a population of less than 700,000, yet they did not lack the means to alarm the hosts. Fabio Capello's players were generally kept at bay with little fuss and the one truly vivid incident at Wembley would have made the home side wince in this Euro 2012 qualifier.

Eight minutes from the close a drive by Milan Jovanovic beat Joe Hart and cracked against the cross bar. A little earlier the left-back had also been the focal figure when, while attempting to clear an Ashley Cole delivery, he got arm as well as chest in the way of the ball. No penalty was given by the German referee, Manuel Gräfe but it was a measure of England's dreary play that such a dispute was pivotal for the hosts.

The fixture shredded comfortable assumptions. We have to accept that the side is not necessarily caught up in a cycle that sees them flourish in the autumn when everyone is still fresh. Staleness and sluggish thinking gave the impression that the squad had just been through a 38-match Premier League programme.

Too much rests with a few people. Wayne Rooney, for instance, was again subdued and no one could compensate. The Manchester United attacker was one of four England men to be cautioned. The 33-year-old debutant Kevin Davies, introduced from the bench, was among them, although the propensity for yellow cards was scarcely the attribute he was meant to transfer to the international scene.

The vacuousness of the game shamed those who are picked to supply verve. It was a miserable spectacle to witness Ashley Young being booked for his attempt to gain a penalty with a dive. Considering half an hour remained, desperation had overtaken England at an early stage. The shabby standard of play was even more alarming than an outcome that leaves Montenegro ahead in the group.

While the exasperating nature of supposed mismatches is well known, England could not deal with such a factor andbring an edge to their play. MladenBozovic ultimately had to pull off saves but this had not been a siege. While Adam Johnson came to life sporadically, the side mostly floundered in its search for ways to turn a back four that remained in good order.

Accolades, of course, are due to Zlatko Kranjcar's men. There had been a purpose and efficiency to the three 1-0 wins that took these opponents to the head of the group. Their character has to be admired and they were not affected in the slightest by the unavailability of their best player, the Roma forward Mirko Vucinic, who had a hamstring injury.

All things considered, England could still have preferred to see him on the field since Montenegro might then have been bolder and so left gaps in a team that was, in practice, tight-knit. Twenty-two minutes had gone by before there was even a suggestion that the Montenegro defence could tremble.

When Rooney did enjoy the room to run the centre-half, Marko Basa halted him with a sound tackle. England were nonplussed and incapable of momentum when Montenegro were so passive. During that period there were just minor indications of stress, as when the centre-half Miodrag Dzudovic was booked for a foul on Young.

Wembley was largely quiet, with the crowd more subdued than resentful over the lack of incident. England even seemed a little desperate when Glen Johnson went down in the 43rd minute after the arm of Jovanovic had brushed against the full-back. Gräfe rightly let play continue.

Annoyance over the result is justifiable. For all the indignities of the World Cup finals, Capello's team had previously been efficient in brushing aside sides of lesser means. Even opponents who came to Wembley with some standing had been harried and Croatia, for instance, were met with a 5-1 rout. While that outcome was relished 13 months ago, it would appear that the calendar is no guarantor of vigour from England.

Capello was far from having his strongest line-up available, yet the resources still appeared sufficient. There had even been a promise of gusto, with Steven Gerrard presumably eager to show that his influence was not bound up with the captaincy he held before Rio Ferdinand's return from injury for this occasion.

Such motivation was hidden from view in the first 45 minutes. Ferdinand, who had not been fit to turn out for his country since the friendly with Japan before the World Cup, was in action once more but caught the eye only for a foul on Milorad Pekovic with 14 minutes gone. Although Peter Crouch did have a chance to relieve the mediocrity and open the scoring two minutes later, the striker misconnected with a Glen Johnson delivery.